rudra/knows

The Vāv

This portfolio, as a stepwell you can walk down

Status
Live
Year
2026
Disciplines
ArchitectureLightMusic
Enter the Vāv
The Vāv at dusk from partway down: lamp-lit terraces of stairs falling to the water, and across the well the palace face of arched galleries, one storey for each project.
The Vāv on a phone at dusk: the palace face rising storey by storey to its domed pavilion.
Fig. 01Dusk, partway down the well. The same well on a phone.

01 · Brief

A portfolio is usually a page you scroll past. I wanted one you could stand in. The Vāv is a stepwell, the kind cut into the ground across Gujarat and Rajasthan to reach water, with one gallery for every project on the palace face and a room behind each gallery.

levels, one gallery and one room for each project
7
model files or recordings: every stone and sound is made in code
0
skies, from dawn to monsoon rain, each with its own sound
5

02

Built from one set of numbers

Every terrace, stair and gallery comes from a handful of measurements: how tall a storey is, how far each terrace steps in, how high and deep each step is. Change one and the whole well rebuilds itself to match.

  • 01Stairs that zigzag down from level to level, so every flight leads somewhere
  • 02A palace of arched galleries on the north face, one storey for each project
  • 03Thousands of steps, and still smooth on a phone

03

Listening to the stone

Every sound is made live as you walk. Near the rim it’s open air and birdsong; lower down the walls close in and the echo grows; at the water, a tanpura and the drip into the tank. Step into a room and the weather stays outside.

Night at the water: lamps along every step and gallery, the palace face glowing over the dark pool.
Fig. 02Night, down at the water.
A gallery door standing open, PlayGarba’s room already there through it: oak slat ceiling, stone floor and pictures on the walls.
Fig. 03A gallery door, the room showing through it.
Inside PlayGarba’s room: an oak slat ceiling, red walls hung with its venues, panels on how it works, and a lit garbo with dancers at the far end.
Fig. 04PlayGarba’s room, its venues on the walls.
The drawn Vāv at dusk: the well cut open down the middle, each gallery labelled with its project and a small drawing of it.
Fig. 05The same well, drawn, for any browser.

04

The hard parts and how they were solved

  1. A building made of numbers

    ProblemA stepwell is thousands of treads, terraces and arches. Modelled by hand, it couldn’t grow a storey when a project is added.

    SolutionThere isn’t a single model file. The whole well is built in code from a handful of measurements: 3 m a storey, terraces stepping in 1.8 m, fifteen treads of 0.2 m by 0.26 m to a flight. Add a project and it gains a level, a gallery and a room.

  2. Sound without recordings

    ProblemA stone shaft should sound like one, and change as you go down, without downloading any audio.

    SolutionEvery sound is made live in the browser. The echo is worked out from the well’s real size, so it grows longer as you go deeper, sounds come from where they are, and footsteps change from sandstone to a polished floor.

  3. A doorway you can see through, both ways

    ProblemEach room is its own scene; a door that cuts to black breaks the place.

    SolutionThe other side is rendered from where your eye would be over there, clipped to the doorway’s own patch of screen, so you walk through without a fade.

  4. Smooth on any screen

    ProblemA phone and a big desktop monitor can’t share one quality setting.

    SolutionQuality adjusts itself to keep the walk smooth, rooms are prepared before you reach the door, and phones get a lighter scene.

Under the hood

How it’s made

The technical side, part by part, for anyone curious about the engineering.

S-01ModelThe stepwell in metres: terraces, flights, galleries, doors and the walk path, from one set of numbers
S-02Renderthree.js with ambient occlusion and bloom, five skies, water, rain and a rainbow; about 8,500 lines
S-03SoundWeb Audio, all synthesised: echoes from the geometry, rain, birds, a tanpura at the water, each room’s own
S-04RoomsWalls painted from each project’s own data, prototypes, still lifes and things to do; PlayGarba’s hall of venues
S-05FallbackThe same well drawn in SVG at build time, for every browser

Made withThree.jsWeb Audio

Status

Live at rudraknows.com/vav, and still growing: every new project adds a storey.

Walk it yourself at rudraknows.com/vav, or ask me how it’s made.

hello@rudraknows.com